Access to Insurance Initiative Newsletter 6/2017

Welcome to our monthly newsletter, where we update insurance regulators and supervisors on the work of the Initiative, inform you about events and publications, and share experiences and learning across jurisdictions.

Recent Events

MiN’s Annual Member meeting|27-28 June 2017, Luxemburg|
The A2ii’s Anke Green presented an interactive session on the role of insurance supervisors in market development at the Microinsurance Network’s annual June Member Meeting in Luxembourg. During this session, attendees were asked to come up with answers to a number of questions, including what market participants see as the supervisor’s role in market development.

MiN members presented to approximately 70 attendees on the role of inclusive insurance in risk reduction, including several first-hand accounts of local initiatives and their experiences in improving insurance coverage in underserved segments of the population.

Around 280 IAIS members and stakeholders came together for this two day event in Old Windsor, London. Panel discussions ranged from systemic risk and International Capital Standards to conduct of business supervision and sustainable insurance.

Hannah Grant, A2ii took part in a panel moderated by Jonathan Dixon, South African FSB discussing the role of insurance supervisors in market development. Following a brief input presentation by the A2ii, panellists from the Bank of England, Financial Stability Institute, MicroEnsure and the Chinese Insurance and Regulatory Commission (CIRC) discussed the important role that insurance supervisors can play in developing their markets. All panellists agreed the insurance supervisor has an important and lead role in market development. However, the type of intervention or support required is heavily dependent on the local market context with supervisors from more developed countries playing an important role in fostering and enabling competition; whereas supervisors from developing and emerging countries instead needing to focus their efforts on encouraging industry to enter the market through enabling market access and building consumer confidence.

More information on IAIS global seminar can be found here and videos of each of the sessions will be available from mid-July.

Selection calls with applicants to the Inclusive Insurance Innovation Lab have started
The call for application for A2ii’s new capacity-building tool, the Inclusive Insurance Innovation Lab, generated an overwhelming response from supervisors. Applications were received from insurance supervisory authorities in Africa, Asia, Central and Eastern Europe, the Gulf region, Latin America and the Pacific. The A2ii and its partner on this project, the Global Leadership Academy, are in the process of conducting selection calls with all applicants. A final selection will be made before the end of July.

The insurance supervisors of the four selected countries will then be supported in putting together their country teams for the Lab process. These teams will consist of around eight senior insurance stakeholders each. In addition to the insurance supervisors, country teams will include the main supply- and demand-side stakeholders in a country.

The Inclusive Insurance Innovation Lab is scheduled to begin in November. Guided by experienced change facilitators, the four country teams will initially explore what the barriers are to greater inclusive insurance market growth in their countries. In a second step, the teams will develop innovative solutions that can increase the uptake of insurance by vulnerable people and businesses.

Recent Publications

A2ii releases two reports showing practical examples and lessons on proportionate application of the Insurance Core Principles
The first report “Proportionality in practice: Distribution" draws on the experiences of Ghana, Mexico and the Philippines. It examines the practical aspects in which insurance supervisors are flexible and adjust certain supervisory requirements in order to encourage the insurance industry to offer insurance to the underserved or those excluded from insurance services while protecting consumers.

The second report “Proportionality in practice: Disclosure of information” draws on the experiences of Brazil, Pakistan, Peru and El Salvador. It examines the practical aspects of disclosure in which supervisors adopt proportionate regulation in order to encourage the industry to offer inclusive insurance while ensuring consumer protection.

Report of the 22ndA2ii-IAIS Consultation Call “The Importance of Insurance Regulation in Disaster Resilience”
The report from the 22nd Consultation on “The Importance of Insurance Regulation in Disaster Resilience”, which took place on 23 May 2017, is now available in English. The Spanish and French version will be available on our website soon.

Report of the IAIS-A2ii-CIMA Mobile Insurance Conference
In February 2017, the A2ii in partnership with the Inter-African Conference on Insurance Markets (CIMA) hosted a workshop in Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire. It was supported by BMZ, DGIS, Financial Sector Deepening Africa (FSD Africa), UK Aid and Munich Re Foundation.

The conference brought together 100 participants from 26 countries across the African continent for two days of intensive discussions on how to overcome barriers and enhance access to insurance for low-income populations through the use of mobile technologies. Representatives from insurance, telecommunications and payment systems regulatory authorities, as well as insurers, mobile network operators, technical service providers and development organisations actively considered the roles, activities, current regulatory provisions and future regulatory needs in mobile insurance, as well as innovation and the use of digital technology more broadly.

Videos of 10th Consultative Forum on Microinsurance Regulation, Uganda
The A2ii, African Insurance Organisation, IAIS, and the Microinsurance Network held its 10th Consultative Forum on “Scaling up agricultural index insurance in Africa: Building disaster resilience of smallholder farmers” on 24 -25 May 2017 in Kampala, Uganda.